unable to copy ss# format in excel

[Guest]

I imported an Access table into Excel. One column in the table is ss#. It was
not formatted in Access; just 9 numbers. In Excel, I need the hyphens. I
haven't been able to copy the format down the column.
Can anyone help?

 

[Guest]

Were the ss#'s stored as numbers or as text in Access? If they were stored
as text, you should:
Type zero in an empty cell and copy it.
Select all the cells that contain your ss#'s.
In the Edit menu choose Paste Special. Select Add and click OK.


Then, with the ss#'s still selected, click Cells in the Format menu. Start
with this steps, if the ss#'s were stored as numbers in Access.
On the Number tab, click Special and select the Social Security Number
format and click OK.

 

[Guest]

highlight the entries, right click go to format cells then in the new window
go to special over to the left and that should give you a few options, choose
social security number and it should automatically insert your hypens

 

[Guest]

Thanks very much, Chip and tjtjjtjt! I had already tried Chip's suggestion,
but that didn't work. Maybe because of the format it was saved in in Access.
But tjtjjtjt's suggestion solved my problem after the first paragraph! Thanks
again!